Samsung Galaxy A36 5G vs Galaxy A16 5G: Double the price, double the phone?
Intro
The Galaxy A36 5G is now official, as Samsung has unveiled it at MWC 2025, joining the ranks of Samsung's mid-ranger lineup. We've got minor design changes and some hardware upgrades, but overall, the Galaxy A36 isn't that different from the Galaxy A35.
How does it compare against the Galaxy A16 5G. As the naming nomenclature would suggest, the Galaxy A36 is a better and more premium device,
Galaxy A36 vs Galaxy A16 differences:
| Galaxy A36 5G | Galaxy A16 5G |
|---|---|
| 120Hz refresh rate | 90Hz maximum refresh rate |
| Unified camera island | Separate camera lens design |
| Thinner at 7.4mm | Slightly thicker at 7.9mm |
| Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 | Exynos 1330/MediaTek Dimensity 6300 |
| 6GB RAM | 4GB RAM |
| Ultrasonic fingerprint scanner | Physical fingerprint scanner embedded in the power button |
| 5,000mAh or smaller battery | 5,000mAh battery |
| Much faster 45W wired charging | Slower 25W wired charging |
| One UI 7, Android 15, six years of software support | One UI 6.1, Android 14, six years of software support |
Table of Contents:
Read more:
- Samsung Galaxy A16 5G Review: Some improvements, but one red flag remains
- Galaxy A36 and A56 expected features, prices, specs, and upgrades
- Samsung Galaxy A16 5G vs Galaxy A15 5G: What's new?
- Samsung Galaxy A36 5G vs Galaxy A35 5G: Main differences to expect
- Samsung Galaxy A36 5G vs Galaxy S25: Can the mid-ranger potentially stand a chance?
- Samsung Galaxy A36 5G vs Galaxy S24 FE: Main differences to expect
Design and Size
The Galaxy A36 feels more premium (Image by PhoneArena)
The Galaxy A36 relies on plastic and adopt flat frames and display, like the Galaxy A16. There's a punch-hole at the front of the Galaxy A36, facilitating the selfie camera, while the Galaxy A16 brings us years back with a retro-looking V-shaped notch.
The Galaxy A36 is thinner than its predecessor and measures 7.4mm, making it pretty compact. How would this compare to the Galaxy A16? The latter is 7.9mm, a smidgen thicker, but won't be such of a difference.
The new Galaxy A36 stands at 162.9 x 78.2 x 7.4 mm and weighs 195 gr, while the Galaxy A16 is taller and narrower at 164.4 x 77.9 x 7.9 mm, but weighs 200 gr.
Similar sizes (Image by PhoneArena)
The most considerable change between the two devices lies at the back, where Samsung uses a unified camera island with all three cameras. This camera strip sticks out among the rest of Samsung's phones, which are all employing separate camera lenses.
Key Island reporting in (Image by PhoneArena)
The Key Island design feature, which houses the power and volume keys on the right-side of the device, is present on both the Galaxy A16 5G and Galaxy A36 5G.
Display Differences
The Galaxy A36 comes with a 6.7-inch Super AMOLED screen, a slight increase over the Galaxy A35's 6.6-inch display. It features 120Hz dynamic refresh rate dynamic refresh rate, likely switching between 60 and 120Hz, unlike more premium devices that go down all the way to 10 or even 1Hz.
In comparison, the Galaxy A16 5G is slightly less impressive. Sure, it has a 6.7-inch screen, so a moderately larger screen, but it won't be as smooth, seeing that it maxes out at 90hz screen refresh rate. Does this worsen the experience? Well, no at all, given the affordable nature of the phone.
We actually quite liked the Galaxy A16 display, as stated in our review. It delivers beautiful colors and relatively high brightness for a super-affordable device, reaching 733 nits of peak brightness as per our tests. We hope that the Galaxy A36 will not only match that brightness, but also beat it.
Performance and Software
Well, the Galaxy A36 has a pretty low bar to overcome.
The new phone comes with the 5nm Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 chipset, which marks another major chipset change after Samsung went through MediaTek and its own Exynos chips in the past Galaxy A3x phones.
At the same time, the Galaxy A16 5G is powered by the 5nm Exynos 1330 chip, which doesn't really shine with anything in particular and is, in fact, terribly slow, just like its predecessor.
The stuttery performance isn't something one should expect of any phone in 2025, but this is the reality of the situation with most entry-level and affordable phones like the Galaxy A16. The experience is just not good.
And our initial tests are in, and in a truly unsurprising manner, the Galaxy A36 triumphs in both the CPU and GPU synthetic benchmark tests. Sorry, Galaxy A16, it's just the way of the game.
The Galaxy A36 is here with 6GB of RAM and starts with 128GB of storage. Meanwhile, the Galaxy A16 comes with some 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, which is at the sanitary minimum and surely adds up to the unimpressive performance.
The Galaxy A36 comes with Awesome Intelligence, which is the company's toned-down AI proposition for the mid-range market. Notably, the Galaxy A36 boasts Circle to Search and Circle to Search and Object Eraser among other features.
Samsung will deliver six years of software support to both the Galaxy A16 and the Galaxy A36, which is great to see.
Camera
The Galaxy A36 comes with a 50MP main camera, an 8MP ultrawide, and sadly, a gimmicky 5MP macro camera, so mostly no changes in comparison with the Galaxy A35. Not a pretty impressive camera setup, but it did the job well on the A35 and will likely do good on the A36, too.
At the same time, with the A16, we get a 50MP main camera, a 5MP ultrawide, and finally, a 2MP macro camera. In contrast with its predecessor, the Galaxy A16 delivers a cooler color temperature, which isn't great, but still, images look okay-ish for the price point.
But how do the two compare? Well, we have some camera samples to show you what's what.
More Galaxy A36 vs Galaxy A16 camera samples
Battery Life and Charging
Both phones have 5,000mAh batteries, which is pretty decent. It's as much as the flagship Galaxy S25 Ultra has, for example. What battery life this one would deliver will largely depend on the chipset used on each phone.
Charging-wise, the Galaxy A36 surprisingly score 45W wired charging, while the Galaxy A16 boasts slower 25W wired charging. The latter charges fully from 0 to 100% in around an hour and 42 minutes, but we expect faster results from the Galaxy A36. No wireless charging on either phone.
Specs Comparison
How will the Galaxy A36 5G vs Galaxy A16 5G specs compare? Here's a summarized table:
| Galaxy A36 5G | Galaxy A16 5G | |
|---|---|---|
| Size, weight | 162.9 х 78.2 х 7.4mm | 164.4 x 77.9 x 7.9 mm |
| Screen | 6.7" Super AMOLED FHD+ 1200 nits brightness 120Hz | 6.7" Super AMOLED 90Hz |
| Processor | Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 (5nm) | Exynos 1330 (5nm) |
| RAM, Storage | 6GB/128GB | 4GB/128GB microSD slot |
| Cameras | 50MP main 8MP ultrawide 5MP macro 12MP front | 50MP main 5MP ultrawide 2MP macro 13MP front |
| Battery | 5,000mAh | 5,000mAh |
| Charging | USB-C 45W wired | USB-C 25W wired |
Summary
Certainly, the Galaxy A36 5G is the better and more complete phone here, not only because it sits higher in the hierarchy, but because Samsung has put better hardware inside, which will surely ameliorate the user experience.
However, the price difference could be the major distinguishing factor.
The Galaxy A16 5G is a $200 phone, an entry-level affordable price if we've ever seen one. The Galaxy A36 5G, on the other hand, starts at $400. Is it twice as good as its pricing would suggest? Stay tuned for our final review to find out.
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